Bees skipper Scott Nicholls has dismissed his angry clash with Belle Vue boss Ian Thomas during Monday's Elite League playoff final at Kirkmanshulme Lane as a storm in a teacup.

The incident was caught by the Sky Sports cameras as Nicholls went to use the pits phone to talk to referee Graham Flint after being controversially excluded from heat four.

Thomas was already on the phone attempting to get the race awarded instead of being re-run, and the two became embroiled in some heated argy-bargy. Coventry co-boss Colin Pratt also became involved, but not before Thomas, with melodramatic over-reaction, had shouted down the phone to Flint that he had been assaulted by Nicholls.

The Belle Vue chief, who shook hands with the Coventry captain after the meeting, said: "I was in the pits' telephone box talking to the referee when Scott Nicholls came in. He was in a temper and gave me a big push. I gave him a bigger push back and he went halfway down the hill outside the box. Then my mate Pratty came in and did a similar thing."

Nicholls countered: "I just wanted to get onto the phone to ask the referee how he had come to the decision to exclude me.

"Ian Thomas was on the phone slagging me off, and as I turned to go and get the phone, he pushed me down the steps. My natural reaction was to push him back and then Colin got involved as well. I thought it was great, though it has been blown out of all proportion."

o SEBASTIAN ULAMEK is on course to win a second title medal with Swedish League side Vastervik. They need to overturn a two-point defeat in tonight's playoff final second leg after losing 49-47 in the first leg at VMS Elit last night in front of a crowd of 8,703. Ulamek scored paid four.